Partnered Up
by abodo
Summary: Innes is not happy with his current arrangement in the war.
Author's notes: so I'm not really writing on a serious project these days. I wrote this on a whim on my phone. And Fire Emblem is really not my wheel house. But I really love the idea of these two. I don't own fire emblem.

I know this may seem pretty bad and maybe I should've polished this before publishing. But I rarely get inspired enough write these days.

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Eirika was mad. That was the only explanation Innes could come up with as he fired another arrow into one of the fel revenants' eyes. Oh sure, he could probably chalk it up to Ephraim's mischief but the warrior prince could not see the young man playing such a prank in the midst of war of all thing.

A groan from behind distracted him from his thoughts and cursing was all he could do before bringing his large silver bow to bear on an enemy already upon him. Far too late did his cumbersome sniper's bow turn, the least he could do was watch the blow he'd take like a man. A blow he'd take if an arrow did not embed itself in the undead monster's shoulder. Followed a beat later by another four. Three in the chest, staggering it away with every hit before being finished off with another one in the head.

"I'm sorry. I'm so very sorry. I shouldn't have strayed too far. Are you hurt?", a girl's voice reached Innes' ears and then he was cursing for very different reason.

He looked back and found his savior. A pink-haired girl on the brink of tears, wielding a far weaker and smaller steel bow of a hunter. He humphed once and ground out "Fine". Then like a petulant child he stomped away to continue his role on the battlefield. The girl followed behind him, babbling away her apologies and worries. Things he fought his mind to ignore lest he lash out to her to shut up about such things. It was bad enough the commoner saved him, it was all the worse when she started apologizing for it. It trampled on his pride, a simultaneous reminder of his mortality and further need of skill, immediately refuted by a sad attempt at soothing his supposedly arrogant ego.

He cursed. Eirika was truly mad when she paired him up with the cry-baby archer, Neimi. There was nothing to be gained, they had neither common interest nor any particular connection short of the bow. And yet he was instructed along with the girl.

Protect each other.

Like bloody daemon breath they could. The second they reach the fields, the girk would rush out into the fray. As a pair of archers, it was in their best interest to stay away from the frontlines but she took to them like a bird to the sky. Innes himself stayed behind, picking off enemies that came too close and those that served to give a tactical advantage when needed. Not to mention the one too many times he'd have to cover for the girl when she got in over her head. He'd snipe away at enemies close to taking her head off and opened up paths for her to breakthrough.

If she wanted to fight on the frontlines so much, she should have been paired with a paladin or something. Even that uncouth whelp of a thief that she called a childhood friend would have sufficed. As for himself, Innes would much prefer to be defended by a knight. Sturdy and much more capable of keeping enemies away as he picked them off. But again, Eirika and her damned commands.

Not to get the prince wrong. He liked Eirika, he could possibly even harbor feelings for the princess of Renais, but her tactics or lack of it was driving him insane. What was there to gain in placing together two archers on the battlefield? There was no tactically sound advantage and one could not tell him about them fated comrades drivel that others seem to spout when paired with each other. Gods Innes could get sick pf L'arachel speak on the topic whenever she recounted hiring Renac and keeping him on retainer.

Alas, the battlefield calls and he just wasn't the type to harp on such things so pointlessly. Especially not when faced with the undead terrorizing innocents.

It would be shortly after the battle when Innes found himself grunting against pressure pressed against his ribs. His grunts and groans of displeasure formed a palpable atmosphere that warded anyone with half a dog's intelligence away. Ofcourse the only one who stayed by him was the one obligated to. She also happened to be the reason for his horrid mood.

"Could you be any gentler? You are applying vulneraries, not breaking my ribs.", he snipped at his caregiver.

Neimi shrunk into herself as she loosed the lash of bandages ever so slightly. "B-but I still have to keep them tight or else the medicine won't stick to heal the wounds."

Innes rolled his eyes, "Any dunce would know that. But that's no excuse to asphyxiate your patient."

"I-I'm sorry.", the small archer squeaked again as she continued her task of applying medicine.

Innes huffed, signaling the end of that conversation.

It was just a stroke of horrid luck. And clearly his own stupidity when he thought about it. How and he been so careless as to let that wraith near him? Fair enough he had been shooting down gargoyles but that was no excuse. Paramount to his training was not only accuracy as an archer but awareness of his surroundings as both a marksman and a tactician. How he could let such slip him was very unlike himself. Clearly it had everything to do with that girl Neimi. It was her fault for making him so off kilter in the middle of the battle when she saved him. He had cleared his thoughts of her by focusing on his targets and that in turn blocked his perception of those surrounding him. He had only been half aware of someone shouting for him before he found himself once more ambushed by a shambling corpse. Mortifying did not begin to cover it. Twice with the same tactic in the same day? His tutors would likely roll in their graves had they been dead.

Worse still he found himself tackled moments later, away from danger by a much smaller body, Neimi. Once more she had come to his rescue. Her quiver empty, and all the salvation she could offer was using her body as his shield. Once more, the dark lord would burn before he would let the girl save him again, and in such a self-sacrificing fashion. So he pulled her away, half on instrinct but with absolutely no plan in mind. He did what came natural and wrapped his arms protectively around her. They both crashed to the ground, but not before Innes received a nasty gash. The monster's stroke clipping him in the side instead of hitting anything more vital after their awkward dodge.

Once fallen the wraith had tried to wail on the pair but Innes swiftly kicked it away. He pointed his bow roughly to the foe before a shot was fired to end its existence.

An odd shot that reverberated through the prince's body even until now. Far from the calm and calculated shots he was used to, he had been crawling and scurrying, struggling to survive. A style of archery that was not in any way methodical or sensible. It was something more primal and unorthodox. After all, nothing could be more unorthodox than a single bow fired by two people.

At that time on the ground, it was impressive enough he could maneuver a bow as tall as he and likely a quarter his weight with one arm and hold it steady. It was another thing to fire it with his notching arm pinned down with 80 pounds of girl. Instead, it was she who pulled out a silver tipped arrow and loaded it onto its counter part. It was also she who pulled on the bow string and released the shot with accuracy so frightening she shot it right between the eyes even in such an awkward pose.

Innes could always claim it was because of his great aim as he was the one holding the bow. But great skill in her own right. As an archer, he knew how much skill it took to do what she did. She did not just pulled the string and released it. She matched his movements on the draw so as not to throw his aim off. In fact, it felt more like she was guiding him onto the proper target. She did so without practice with his equipment and little more than observing him. There was no fluke to what happened. She made it happen.

She apologized shortly after the battle and again Innes felt his pride torn to shreds. Her superiority in skill and capacity to look down on herself never ceased to infuriate him. In fact he had stomped over to healers when all was said and done to get his wounds healed. Maybe then in the healer's tent he could get some peace from the archer. However the cleric from Grado was busy with General Seth and fortunately L'arachel was already too laden with patients to even consider helping him. The bishops and sages of their party being chief of her concerns, sparing him of her drivel. With all other healers on their party disabled, that left Innes with the option of having his side healed the old fashioned way. With bandages, medicine and a lot of discomfort.

This left him with his current situation with the girl Neimi half choking him as her bandaging cut off his circulation. He let her work in silence as he gathered his own thoughts on things to reflect on his performance.

Then she spoke.

"You're amazing prince Innes."

The young man barely held in a derisive snort at that. But it seemed she sensed his distrust in her words.

"No I really mean it.", she reinforced. "You're always so calm, confident, strong and dependable. I'm nothing at all like you."

The soft hush to the end of that statement stilled whatever venom begged tro drip from Innes' tongue. He stayed his intents and let her speak.

"Your gaze always sweeps the battlefield before you take action. You choose your targets well and take them down so accurately. And in one arrow as well!"

'And yet I don't always do.', Innes thought bitterly.

"It really shows how skilled and experienced you are in the art of war archery. Me- I-... I've always practiced archery for the hunt. I never imagined using my skills for war. I'm used to diving into the fray to find my quarry, that's why I always rush headlong into the field, looking for enemies and lose track of my party. Sometimes my target even finds me first so I have to avoid getting killed just enough to kill it with my arrows."

That explains how she shot that wraith in the head while lying on the ground.

she laughed a sad laugh. "It's sad isn't it? An archer shooting her enemies within arm's reach."

Innes heard a sniffle. Feeling one of her small hands retract from his bandages for a moment before returning damp.

"Though I try otherwise. It's always been a habit to shoot my targets with disablement in mind before lethality. It- it helps keeps meat fresh.", this time she sobbed openly. "I'm sorry. I've done it so many times. But I still can't help but feel it's cruel."

"Still", Neimi pressed on, "Because of those habits. I waste more arrows than I necessarily should. So I run out quickly. Just like- just- just li-ike- just like awhile ago with the wraith."

Innes felt her lean in on him. Her body shaking from the sobs wracking her body. The open cries probably being heard in the whole encampment. And yet Innes did not hush her like he would have his sister. She was a crybaby. He'd learned that in the time being partnered with this pink-haired commoner. Because of that, he also knew that this kind of crying was different from normal as well.

"I was afraid! So afraid!", Neimi wailed. "I didn't know what to do. Someone was going to die. A friend of mine going to die because I ran out of arrows. Because I was so incompetent. I-", she stuttered, searching for the words. "I felt so powerless. An archer without arrows. So I ran forward. Hoping my health, even my life could be recompense for the danger I put you in. Yet you saved me.", she clung onto Innes tightly like a lifeline. "Thank you."

Eirika was mad.

Innes was convinced of that. She paired him up with the commoner on sheer grounds that they both wielded bows. And there was nothing tactically sound about that. The princess of Renais was mad and maybe he was as well, because he was starting to care for the girl.

From a distance. Prince Ephraim of Renais watched the pair of archers from the door flaps of his tent. The smile on his face, one of relief and satisfaction.

"Brother. Why have Innes and Neimi been fighting alongside each other in past battles lately?"

Ephraim gave his approaching sister a sidelong glance before answering easily. "Because I arranged it under your name."

"What?", the female royal questioned, "but why would you do that?"

Ephraim shrugged. "It was the only way Innes would have listened."

"I mean why would you pair them up."

The prince of Renais was silent for a moment. Gathering his thoughts before speaking. "Eirika. You know well that there's more to war than just skill and tactics. Even when dueling, there is more to it than just practice and fine teachers."

"What do you mean brother?"

"Don't worry if you don't understand dear sister.", he turned his smile to her. "Very few do. And I believe Innes is just beginning to."


End file.
